A lively, UK-based band called Coasts was supposed to be the main act at Brighton Music Hall on Monday night. However, they were largely overshadowed by their opener: a striking young woman named Zella Day.
Day’s debut, Kicker, isn’t set to be released until June 2, but she’s already well on her way to amassing a steady following. There was more buzz about her in Brighton Music Hall that night than there was for Coasts. It was as if there had been a mistake in the lineup.
The indie-pop songstress’s fairy princess appearance was particularly stunning: petite frame, bright eyes, and messy blonde hair that fell freely around her face. She giggled and bantered with her audience, who stared at her in amazement.
Day rocked out to some of her more upbeat and danceable songs, but the audience was too entranced by her voice to even move. And there was no question as to why. Day floated effortlessly through the high notes in “Compass” and painstakingly begged to “go back to the world we had” in “1965.” The simultaneous power and emotion in her voice permeated the hall, leaving the crowd covered in goosebumps and fairy dust.
“Hypnotic” served as an appropriate track by which to gauge her sound, falling somewhere between the gentle piano base of “Compass” and the grand drum and guitar background of “High” and encompassing the diversity of her instrumentation. Some may find the differences in her tracks inconsistent, but fans will simply see it as unpredictable.
The music world should expect to see much more of Zella Day. She’s leaving her mark on the festival scene and will have played at Shaky Knees, Big Guava, Hangout, and Firefly by the end of next month. It won’t be long before her magical dust is sprinkled on music lovers everywhere.